About the International Childhood Cancer Cohort Consortium (I4C)
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I4C is an innovative global collaboration that aims to contribute to the prevention and treatment of cancers in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood by performing specific projects using data and biological samples from large international birth cohorts.
The severity and global impact of cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults underscore the urgent need for effective preventive strategies.
Unlike adult cancers, the causes of cancer in children, adolescents and young adults are largely unknown. Their relative rarity makes it challenging to investigate environmental and biological risk factors. Even large cohorts often lack sufficient statistical power to detect associations between common exposures and cancer risk.
I4C addresses this limitation by consolidating aggregated data across continents, including a total study population of over a million mother-child duos. Many cohorts also include the fathers. As such the I4C enables robust and meaningful research into the origins of cancer that would not be feasible within individual studies alone.
Study population
Until recently, I4C focused primarily on childhood cancer. Recognizing that early-life exposures may have long-term health effects, and given the rich longitudinal data available, the Consortium has expanded its study population to include adolescents and young adults. The age range is defined by the diagnosis being studied.
Exposures and biological data
Exposure data are collected from pregnancy onwards and include detailed information on socioeconomic, lifestyles, nutritional, toxic, social and psychological factors. Biological samples allow for in-depth studies of how environmental exposures affect physiological systems and enable research into gene–environment interactions.
International collaboration and historical scope
The international scope of the collaboration allows for the exploration of both universal and regional-specific exposures. The data collected by cohorts of the I4C spans seven decades, from the Collaborative Perinatal Project (CPP) initiated in 1959 in the US to Generation Victoria in Australia, which is currently recruiting. This provides a unique opportunity to compare incidences and exposure-disease associations across time and place.
Data protection and Analytical methods
The I4C respects personal data in accordance with GDPR (Europe) and national laws. It develops a system of federated analysis plans, which means that a certain analysis is performed locally in each cohort based upon a shared protocol, allowing for comparison of aggregated results. Individual-level data are only shared in compliance with national laws.
Impact
There is a significant gap in the outcome of cancer treatment between high and low-income countries. One potential impact of I4C’s collaborative efforts is the identification of factors that could lead to low-cost, effective treatments decreasing this gap. I4C supports international cooperation and has the potential to inform prevention strategies that could save lives and reduce long-term healthcare costs.
The Consortium and collaboration
I4C currently includes 12 cohorts from Asia, Europe, South and North America, and Australia. The I4C expanded with three cohorts in 2024; The Korean Children’s Environmental Health Study (Ko-CHENS), The Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study (BIGCS) and Generation Victoria (GenV).
We continue to welcome new projects, collaborators and cohorts to join the Consortium.
Please see the Policies and procedures document for information on how to collaborate with I4C.
History
The consortium has been active since 2005, originally initiated from and coordinated by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia. It has been coordinated by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) since 2024.
Learn more on the I4C cohort profile and our publications here [Lenke]